1. Field
The following description relates to a remote management system comprising a server and multiple devices operating in accordance with management policies based on conditions and actions. Furthermore, the disclosure relates to a method to trigger and control the execution of actions of management policies.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the context of the present disclosure, the term “Management Policy”, or simply “Policy” is herein defined as a rule that describes the management actions of a device to be taken when certain predefined conditions are met by the device.
The term management policy management object, MgmtPolicyMO, enables remote operations for devices according to predefined management policies installed (“downloaded”) by the management authority. The MgmtPolicyMO specifies the capabilities to perform actions on management policies such as installing, removing, upgrading, activating, and deactivating policies.
In order to provide a thorough understanding of the state of the art the following references are incorporated in their entirety:
1) OMA Device Management Version 1.3. Open Mobile Alliance, URL:
http://www.openmobilealliance.org;
2) “OMA Device Management Protocol, Version 1.3”. Open Mobile Alliance, OMA-TS-DM-Protocol-V1_3, URL:
http://www.openmobilealliance.org;
3) “OMA Device Management Tree and Description, Version 1.3”. Open Mobile Alliance, OMA-TS-DM-TND-V1_3, URL:
http://www.openmobilealliance.org; and
4) “OMA Diagnostics and Monitoring Version 1.2”. Open Mobile Alliance, OMA-TS-DM-TND-V1_3, URL:
http://member.openmobilealliance.org/ftp/Public_documents/DM/DiagMon/Permanent_documents/OMA-TS-DiagMonTrapMOFrame-V1_2-20121121-C.zip.
As known to those skilled in the art from the presentation held on Apr. 12, 2012 at OMA FORUM by Kong Posh Bhat, entitled: “Management Policy Framework”, available at: http://member.openmobilealliance.org/ftp/Public_documents/DM/2012/OMA-DM-2012-0042-INP_Management_Policy_Framework.zip for members forum, the MgmtPolicyMO provides the following skills:
Ability to specify a simple condition, using predicates (equal to, greater than, less than, etc.) (201).
Ability to specify a simple action (202).
Ability to combine simple conditions using logical operators (AND, OR, NOT, etc.) to define a compound condition (203).
Ability to combine simple actions using logical operators (AND, OR, NOT, etc.) to define a compound action (204). Examples considering the results of two simple actions:                Success and failure=failure        Success or Failure=Success        
Ability to specify management policies (205) in terms of compound conditions and compound actions.
Capacity of the device to continually evaluate the policies and actions triggered if the conditions are met.
The device must also issue a general warning to the server that contains the aggregate result or the status of the action taken, if any.
An example of management policy is presented below:
“Between 9:00 and 10:30 a.m. or 3:00 and 5:00 p.m., turn off the camera and put the phone on vibrate mode.”
In this hypothetical example, we have the following conditions and actions:
Time>=9:00 a.m. {simple condition}
Time<=10:30 a.m. {simple condition}
Time>=3:00 p.m. {simple condition}
Time<=5:00 p.m. {simple condition}
Time>=9:30 a.m. and time<=10:30 a.m.) OR (time>=3:00 p.m. and time<=5:00 p.m) {compound condition}
disabling camera {simple action}
putting the phone on vibrate {simple action}
to turn off the camera and putting the phone on vibrate mode {compound action}
This example can be described as an instance of Management Policy in MO tree in FIG. 4, as will be detailed below.
DiagMonTrapMOFrame OMA enabler specification OMA-TS-DiagMonTrapMOFrame-V1_2 [4] describes a Framework for Monitoring and Diagnosing network services, applications, devices, faults in devices and specifies an object “Trigger”. The object Trigger DiagMonTrapMOFrame is dedicated to networking events and devices.
The patent document WO2010016849, “Intelligent Mobile Device Management Client”, applicant InnoPath Software Inc, published on Feb. 11, 2010, proposed within OMA-DM autonomous management functions based on policies dynamically configured by the server, including conditions and actions. However, these functions are limited to each of the simple conditions, being able to trigger an action or simple list of actions. That is, it provides the flexibility of using compound conditions, each of which consists of many simple conditions connected by logical operators (AND, OR, NOT). Furthermore, this document WO2010016849 does not provide using compound actions each one consisting of many simple actions connected by logical operators (AND, OR, NOT) to determine the compound score, or even simple actions connected by “short circuit” control operators (SAND, SOR). This document WO2010016849 does not provide that Trigger acts on result transitions of compound conditions. The document WO2010016849 does not provide the possibility to schedule actions “If” and “Else” (positive and negative actions) based on the result of the transition conditions. The document WO2010016849 does not provide interconnecting the Policy—a Policy being able to enable or disable another. Finally, the document WO2010016849 does not define how policies, conditions and actions can be represented in a structured way, in the Management Tree (“Management Tree”) in terms of objects (“Management Objects”).
Patent documents US2008163262 and US2011087917, “Method and apparatus for Implementing a predetermined operation in device management”, applicant: Huawei Tech Co Ltd, published on Jul. 3, 2008 and Apr. 14, 2011, incorporated into autonomous management functions OMA-DM based on policy dynamically configured by the server, composed of trigger and operations. However, the document US2008163262 and US2011087917 are limited to a specific scenario, in which a second preset operation is executed depending on the outcome of the former. Documents US2008163262 and US2011087917 does not have the flexibility of setting up the management policies made of composed conditions and actions.
OMA DM and Device Management Protocol [2] were conceived based on the approach in which the DM Server needs to query devices for configuration and status before sending them requests (“requests”) DM, within a management session.
FIG. 1 shows the main features of MgmtPolicyMO. MgmtPolicyMO describes a more proactive approach, where devices are able to perform autonomous management actions based on management policy, as shown in FIG. 1. These policies are pre-set by the Management Authorities, typically Operators (operation 111) and installed (“downloaded”) by DM Server (101) in Devices (102) (operation 112). Then, the devices continuously assess policies and make necessary management actions (operation 113). Once the conditions of the policy management are met, DM actions are triggered. Examples of actions: 1) management of software, 2) firmware updating, 3) updating parameter configuration and 4) initiating a diagnostic procedure. After execution, the results are sent to the Policy DM Server, using a notification mechanism (operation 114).
FIG. 2 shows a representation of MgmtPolicyMO as described in the technical specification of the management policy management object published on Jun. 26, 2013. The design of the Management Object (“Management Objects” or MO) adheres to the Device Management Tree (“Tree Management”) and description OMA-DM.
In the current state of the art, MO MgmtPolicy can now offer savings for operators, because the Policy Management can be defined once and then transferred in a multitude of devices. It is, then, up to the device the burden of evaluating the policy and implement management actions proactively as needed. Only the results of actions are reported to the Policy DM Server, through a generic alert mechanism. In other words, if there is no need for management action, nothing is reported to the DM Server.
Based on the particularities described in the art, the methods proposed by the present disclosure enhance the benefits offered MgmtPolicyMO, as follows:
At the Device Side:
Policy actions can be triggered based on the results of transitions and not based on the results of the action. This reduces the burden of the device to evaluate and implement management actions frequently. The use of short-circuit operators can prevent unnecessary execution of simple actions based on the results of other simple actions previously performed within the same compound action.
At the Server Side:
Greater reduction in traffic in the communication between the device and the DM Server, and greater benefit in network costs: control of the policy trigger will reduce the frequency with which the DM Server is notified and prevent the server is interrupted by notifications excessively frequent, if compared to the prior art communications. Accordingly, the network cost savings is increased. Furthermore, the present disclosure reduces overhead of the server in processing repeated notifications. In other words, operators will be able to manage a larger number of devices that use the same infrastructure—DM Server capacity and network capacity, compared with the known solutions.
At the Perspective of Management Authorities:
Authorities, such as operators, have greater flexibility and modularity in policy management when compared with prior art solutions, thanks to:                Using short-circuit operators with greater control over the execution of the Device Policies.        Use of if-else actions, or actions made positive-negative, contributing to the increased flexibility of the specification of the Policy and respective implementation of its actions.        interconnected Management Policies, i.e., certain policy actions are able to activate and deactivate the evaluation and implementation of other policies, which allows reuse of policies in a more modular and flexible way.        
Despite MgmtPolicyMO known in the prior art overcome important limitations for device management, proposing a more pro-active management of standalone devices, there are some gaps and opportunities for improvement, in particular on the implementation of the policy action. The present disclosure seeks to overcome these drawbacks and to meet these gaps by proposing specific methods to cover each of these identified gaps.